Inductors used in, for example, noise reduction and high-frequency suppression filters are recently further reduced in size in mobile communication devices such as a portable telephone, a smartphone, and a tablet. Therefore, when a winding wire is wound in layers around a winding core portion to make up an inductor, a thickness of the layers, i.e., a winding layer thickness of the winding wire must further be suppressed.
For example, a coil component is known that has a winding wire wound in a winding method designed to suppress a winding layer thickness of the winding wire of the coil component (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-044858).
In the coil component described above, for example, if a winding wire is wound in first and second layers around a winding core portion and returned from the second layer to the winding core portion for a long distance, a return winding portion may deteriorate in shape stability and more turns may be required for the return winding.